Syrian Dinner and a Movie: Becoming Iphigenia by filmmaker Reem Al-Ghazzi
CAS Dinner & a Movie Series
November 14, 2022 - 4:45-7:00 pm
By Invitation Only
STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
College of Fine Arts Rm 111
Film screening, dinner, and conversation with the filmmaker
Q & A with film director Reem Al-Ghazzi
About the filmmaker:
Reem Al-Ghazzi is a Syrian artist who has directed and produced several short films individually and as part of collectives. Her films have received awards at the Casablanca International Film Festival and the Alexandria Film Festival, and have been screened at the Cinéma du réel in Paris and the Locarno International Film Festival. Al-Ghazzi has also published several articles and texts in local and Arabic websites/newspapers. In 2010, she established the Filmmakers Lab in Damascus. Reem Al-Ghazzi is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow in residence at CMU’s Department of English.
About the film:
Becoming Iphigenia is a feature-length documentary that traces the fortunes of a group of young Syrian women in Germany who hail from different walks of life and from differing communities in Syria. Brought together on stage at the Volksbühne in Berlin for roles in a modern adaptation of Euripides’ Iphigenia (written by playwright Mohammad al-Attar and directed by Omar Abusaada), as they rehearse the production they realize that the pain and threat of death they fled remains with them. Can they free themselves from the past, family, society, and ultimately themselves?
About the food:
Dinner will be provided by Ali Baba restaurant. In 1972, a struggling native Syrian graduate student opened the doors to a modest ethnic Syrian restaurant. The restaurant flourished through its dedication to excellent service, and passion in serving authentic Syrian dishes. Decades later, two Syrian relatives took over the restaurant and continued the legacy of one of the oldest restaurants still existing in Pittsburgh by bringing a fresh take on old traditions.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts in Society, Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Sustainability Initiative, The Kim and Eric Giler Humanities Lecture Fund, The Humanities Scholars Program, and Artist Protection Fund .
